The avant-garde is synonymous with the concept of New Art, the breakthrough in art which took place in the visual arts during the first decades of the 20th century in Russia and then in the USSR. Its representatives, determined by the changes brought about by new technical inventions, especially in the sphere of urbanization, were convinced, like the Italian futurists, that they would be at the foreground of social change, new perceptions and shaping of culture. They believed in the new society which would rend apart the class structure of previous ages when its place would be taken by dynamism and creativity in the service of utilitarian and egalitarian solutions. They believed in their mission, the Promethean idea of a new better world, when man- kind would be liberated from all subjection. This social mood was developing in the whole of Europe, but was particularly strong in Russian society in the last twenty years before World War I. In fact, one could say it was a prelude to the war. From this sequence of events came the conviction held by represen- tatives of New Art about their prophetic message of freedom. The actual reality, the advance of totalitarianism, was a bitter epilogue for the whole formation, for almost all the great artists of the avant-garde. Nevertheless, though rejected and often dying before their time, their works remained, suffused with enthusiasm for the new gravitation – belief in the greatness of mankind – in the new, universal idea.

The start of Wolska Street, overlooking Błonia Park with the Kościuszko Mound towering over it, was an important place in the city’s structure as indicated in the competition plans for Greater Kraków from 1910. This led to the erection of formal buildings along the eastern boundary of Błonia, with the National Museum building at the forefront. In 1950, an urban-planning competition was held in relation to the planned construction of important buildings in this area. This paper presents unpublished works and the effects of decisions taken in this already forgotten competition on today’s development of the area around the square in front of the National Museum.
The goal of this paper is to present unknown competition designs dating back to mid-20th century and to indicate their impact on spatial solutions of the area at the end of Piłsudskiego Street, near the National Museum.
A comparative analysis of preserved pictorial materials and designs known to the author was used in this study. The analyses concluded that the opportunities to turn the start of Piłsudskiego Street into a nodal point in the urban plan of the city, a spot that would integrate space at both sides of Trzech Wieszczów Avenues, were not fully used. Urban analysis that also covered the area at the eastern side of the Trzech Wieszczów Avenues is a key to producing correct spatial solution for the square in front of the National Museum.